The Wall Street Journal Law blog is refereeing a nice little sparring match between the top lawyers at Microsoft and Google this morning.
That’s because while you were busy getting ready for the Super Bowl, Google GC David Drummond was busy blogging about Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo, saying that the deal would be a threat to the “openness and innovation” of the Internet, not to mention those pesky antitrust laws. Drummond picks at Microsoft’s scabs from its huge antitrust battle with the U.S. government, writing, “Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?”
Microsoft GC Brad Smith fired back on the Law Blog saying that the deal would make the Internet search and online advertising market more competitive.
Antitrust lawyers out there: Is this just some trash-talking between competitors? Or are there some legitimate antitrust concerns if Microsoft were to acquire Yahoo?
— Zusha Elinson
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